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Solano gets silent treatment after first round-tripper

Solano gets silent treatment after first round-tripper

ATLANTA -- It took 252 at-bats for Donovan Solano to belt his first big league home run.

When the 24-year-old returned to the dugout, he was completely ignored. The Marlins gave the rookie the silent treatment after his connected off Kris Medlen and the Braves on Tuesday night.

Solano enjoyed a big night, belting two homers and driving in three runs in the Marlins' 4-3 loss at Turner Field. The first one was a relief because he waited so long.

Actually, the rookie second baseman told Jose Reyes weeks ago to make sure the silent treatment lasted about two minutes. The reason? Solano's brother, Jhonatan who plays for the Nationals, was ignored for a long time after his first homer.

Donovan and Jhonatan both debuted this season.

"I told Reyes, 'When I get my first home run, I want nothing. Quiet for me,'" Solano said. "When I saw my brother, he got like one-minute, 20-something of nothing."

The TV cameras showed the dugout reaction, and the silent treatment lasted only a few seconds because, eventually, Reyes busted out laughing.

"Yeah, it wasn't two minutes," Solano said.

Even before reaching the dugout, Solano met a request by his sister. Previously, she asked him to puff out his cheeks after crossing home plate as a gesture to her.

So before reaching the dugout, Solano looked directly into the camera and blew up his cheeks.

"My sister said, 'When you get your first home run,' she wanted me to dedicate it to her," he said.

Solano's two-homer night also was a rarity, as he became the third player in Marlins' history to record a multi-homer game in the same game that he connected on his first big league shot.

Hanley Ramirez was the last to do so, on April 18, 2006, at Cincinnati. The first was Tim Hyers, on June 6, 1999, at Tampa Bay.

According to STATS LLC, Solano is the fourth rookie to do so this season. The others were Baltimore's Manny Machado (Aug. 10 vs. Kansas City), San Diego's Yasmani Grandal (June 30 at Colorado) and Washington's Tyler Moore (June 13 at Toronto).

Solano has played significantly in the second half, making a case to be the front-runner to start at second in 2013. Manager Ozzie Guillen says Solano is proving that he is capable of at least sharing the position.

"Maybe we find somebody to help him once in a while," Guillen said. "He's facing a good pitching staff. He is handling it very well. Can he play every day in the big leagues? I know he can play half a season in the big leagues. We've got to take a look at him, we've got to see."